And If I Reached For Your Hand
by ThreeRainyDays
Summary: Wearing the same blank stare as her father, Kate slowly put the letter back down. She looked out the kitchen window as if expecting to see her mother outside, walking away. Her voice broke as she said, "She didn't even say goodbye." Kate/Hugh. Oneshot.


_I'm probably one of maybe five people that kinda like this pairing, but that's fine with me. I just love how the characters in Another Wonderful Life have really in-depth backstories of their own, and Kate's family in particular has always intrigued me. Personally, I think her parents' divorce was sorta heavy stuff for a kid's game, just saying (although whether or not Harvest Moon is a kid's game is debatable)._

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**And If I Reached For Your Hand**

"I'm tired of living like this, Grant. I'm tired of always waiting for you to come home, I'm tired of being the only one who looks after our daughter, and I'm tired of waiting for you to change."

"Samantha, what do you want me to do?"

Kate refused to look up from the book she was reading. She buried her nose deeper into the pages and tried to focus on the words. It was just another argument, the same stupid argument as always, and there was no need for her to step in and get involved. It never got resolved either way.

"I'm going to bed," she heard her mother say.

Her father sighed and sat down tiredly at the kitchen table. Kate closed her book, set it down on the coffee table, and quietly slipped upstairs. Peeking into her parents' bedroom, she saw her mother sitting on their bed, holding her head in her hands. She swore she heard quiet sobs, and Kate wordlessly turned away. There was nothing she could do anyway.

The next day, Kate came down to the kitchen expecting to see her parents fighting again. Instead, she saw her father sitting at the table again, staring blankly down at nothing. Before she could ask him what was wrong, she saw the piece of paper beside him.

She rushed down the last few steps and crossed the room to snatch the letter up. Her eyes furiously scanned the page in the beginning, then slowed down towards the end. The only words that really registered to Kate were the ones at the top.

_ I'm sorry._

Wearing the same blank stare as her father, Kate slowly put the letter back down. She looked out the kitchen window as if expecting to see her mother outside, walking away. Her voice broke as she said, "She didn't even say goodbye."

Things were never the same after her mother left. Kate knew she wasn't coming back, but after the first day, she couldn't bring herself to cry. The shock was too much for her father. It was like time had stopped for him. Every day he'd leave for work in the morning and come home in the evening, refusing to break routine. He simply didn't have the strength to deal with his wife leaving.

For Kate, everything fell apart after that. Their family was broken beyond repair, and something inside her broke along with it. How could she smile anymore, with her mother gone and her father struggling to cope? Everything was wrong, and there was nothing she could do to fix it.

And she was still stuck in that stupid valley. That stupid valley where her parents had insisted on moving to, back when things were still okay. As the days passed, she started to wonder if things were ever truly okay, even back then. Maybe she had seen it coming. She'd seen it coming, but her heart refused to believe it.

The only thing that didn't change was Hugh. He immediately noticed the difference in her mood and her sudden apathy for everything. But he never asked her about it, never forced her to talk about it. He never brought it up even once. Kate hardly noticed. She was so stuck in her own thoughts she didn't see the concerned looks Hugh sent her way.

Everything was wrong. Why? Why, why, why did it have to happen to her? Wrong, it was all wrong! She didn't deserve to be suffering along with her parents because this was their problem and now they'd made it hers, too.

It wasn't until a while later that Hugh finally mentioned her parents' divorce. He must have waited for her to get better on her own, and when she didn't he decided that the time for waiting was over. Kate was sitting on the bridge, her feet dangling over the river. She stared blankly at the fish and didn't notice Hugh approaching.

"It's been a month already," he said. Kate turned around to look at him, the same blank expression on her face. "You have to move on."

"Don't tell me what to do," she said, some of the old Kate resurfacing in her tone. "I don't need you to play psychologist on me, Hugh. You don't know what I've been through."

"Maybe not, but you can't let it stop you from living your life," he pointed out. "It's time to move on."

"She left us," Kate muttered. "And more importantly, she left me. How could she leave me like that, Hugh? If you're so smart, tell me why things turned out this way!"

He looked at her sadly. "I don't know. But it wasn't your fault, Kate."

"It was his fault!" She screamed. "And hers! They both screwed up and now I'm stuck in this mess! You're right, it wasn't my fault. So then why do I have to suffer the consequences?"

"You don't have to," he said. "Let it go, and you can get your life back. You're better than this and I care about you too much to watch you give up like this."

Hugh tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder but she slapped it away. "Don't touch me," she muttered darkly. "If you cared so much about me, why didn't you do something earlier? Why didn't you help me?"

"How could I help you, Kate?" He asked, getting angry. "You wouldn't talk to anybody, let alone listen to what I had to say. You didn't even leave your house for a week after your mom left! How was I supposed to help you? You wouldn't let anyone help you, that's why."

"You don't understand!" She shouted. "I felt so lost because I didn't know what to do! There wasn't anything I could do! And nothing, no one, can make this right again!"

"Well you have to try!" He said furiously. "Because if you don't, then who will?"

A silence fell over them. For once, Kate seemed to have no retort.

"Who will, Kate?" He repeated quietly.

She looked down. "I don't know."

"Kate, I'd like to talk to you."

She barely concealed her surprise at hearing her father address her. For months, he'd hardly made any effort to communicate with her. The two interacted with each other only out of necessity, saying the bare minimum needed to get by. "Okay," She said warily as she followed Grant into the kitchen.

"Um, sit down," he said. She couldn't help but notice how awkward that sounds, like she's a stranger in her own house. "I think we should, um, well…"

"Dad, what is it?" Kate asked, impatience getting the best of her. "Stop mumbling and tell me already."

He stopped staring at his hands and looked her straight in the eyes. "I need to apologize to you, Kate."

"That's what you wanted to talk to me about?" She asked, the anger evident in her voice. "After all this time, you finally decided I deserve an apology? Well, it's about time!"

"Kate," he said.

"Do you know how much shit I've gone through?" She said. "I really don't want to hear your excuses."

"It's not an excuse," he said, for once holding her gaze. "What happened between me and your mother was our problem, not yours. It wasn't your fault, and I don't ever want you to think that it was."

She crossed her arms, still glaring. "Is that it?"

"No," he said. "That's not. I've made a lot of mistakes, Kate, and there's no way for me to make it up to you. But I'd like to try and set things right for us now, so we can start over."

"What are you saying, Dad?"

"If you want to leave the Valley, I can arrange for us to go tomorrow."

Kate stopped glaring and just stared at him. For the first time in a long while, she really looked at her dad and was ashamed at what she saw there. There's hurt and pain, she already knew that much. But there's also kindness and hope and apology. It's an apology to her, and she knew that he just wanted the best for her.

"I've been selfish for a long time," he said after she didn't respond. "And that's how I lost your mother. I don't plan to make the same mistake with you, Kate."

"Dad, I'm sorry," she said, and the words feel unfamiliar coming from her own mouth. "I've been selfish, too. And I'm sorry about Mom leaving."

"It wasn't your fault," he repeated.

"I know," she said. "So let me be selfish for a little longer. I want to leave here."

She stood on the edge of the shoreline, looking out at the waves. The ocean seemed so vast from where she stood, as if it was another world she was staring into.

"So you're leaving?"

Kate turned around to see Hugh watching her, a sad smile on his face. "I am," she said.

"I… I hope things work out for you. Wherever you're going," he managed.

"Hugh, I'm sorry," Kate said, looking him in the eye as she said it. "I didn't mean all those things I said. You cared enough to try and get through to me, and all I did was push you away. You didn't deserve that."

He nodded in understanding. "You were hurting. I get it."

"You told me to let it go," she said. "But how can I, Hugh? That was my life, that was everything I had, and now it's not there anymore. I can't just move on, because I lost everything I ever cared about. That's not something you get over in a day. But I think I have to try, if I ever want to move forward."

"But do you really need to go?"

She looked back out at the ocean. The waves lapped so calmly at the sand. "I never wanted to come here in the first place."

"But didn't you like it here?" He argued. "Maybe you weren't happy at first, but admit it. You didn't mind so much after that."

"My mind is made up."

"I can't stop you," he said, resignation in his tone. "Because I know that's just how you are. You'll come back?"

She held his hand and squeezed it slightly. "I plan on coming back someday, when I'm strong enough to deal with everything that happened. I just can't do that right now."

"I think I understand," he said. "Or at least, I'll try to. I get that this is something you need to do, and I'm glad that you and your dad are… okay." It wasn't the right word, but there were few that would've done much better, so Kate let it pass.

"I promise I'll come back," she said. "I won't be like my mother."

He let go of her hand and nodded. "Alright," he said. "I hope you find what you're looking for."

They held eye contact for a moment longer before Kate turned away and the two left in opposite directions. Hugh briefly wondered if it was okay to leave things like this, when he heard Kate say something.

"Thank you."

He almost turned around then. He might have smiled at her, or said some final parting words, or run back to hug her and tell her what he really wanted to say. But Hugh kept walking. And when he saw Kate and Grant leaving on the single path exiting Forget-Me-Not Valley later that day, he felt oddly at peace.

Kate was a girl he'd never forget.


End file.
